Phenomenon
by Stratagem
Summary: A year after their marriage, Allura and Shiro figure out that Allura is pregnant. So much happy. Expanding from a one-shot to a short story piece!
1. Phenomenon

Disclaimer: I don't own Voltron: Legendary Defender!

A/N: I had a MIGHTY NEED for future!Shallura pregnancy fluff! This takes place about seven years later, in the far future of the show. So here's married!Shallura figuring out that Allura's pregnant. Oh, and Allura flip-flops between calling Shiro "Shiro" and "Takashi."

* * *

 **Phenomenon**

It was official. Her fingernails were glowing pink.

Allura held them up to her face, squinting at them as if being closer to eyes would suddenly cause them to become dull again. Even though it was silly, she was somewhat worried that would happen. When it didn't, when they kept glowing that steady light pink color, she gave an excited but muffled shriek and spun around in a circle before dropping back down onto the bed.

She and Shiro hadn't really thought that this could happen. They had hoped but not too much. Even though Altean DNA was morphable and human DNA was compatible with at least some alien species, it had seemed far-fetched to believe that Allura and Shiro could have a child together. Maybe it had something to do with her magical abilities? However it had happened, she now had all the official Altean signs of early pregnancy as well as some of the human ones.

Pregnant. She was actually pregnant.

The long-lived mice sensed her excitement and popped out of their little house in the corner in a speedy row. The four dashed up the side of the bed and perched around her, all of them sending her warm, excited thoughts to match her own.

She let herself bask in that hopeful happiness for a few ticks before bringing up some rational, sensible thoughts. Before she really believed that this was happening, she needed to go down to the infirmary to run some official tests.

However, that meant she would need to tell someone or, alternatively, go down there by herself and hope that no one found out. Which, if she did that without mentioning where she was going, inevitably someone would discover she was missing and start a search and then there would be no point to being secretive in the first place. There was always Coran, but she wanted it to be a surprise, even for him. He had been dropping so many hints about "grandchildren" and "new princesses," he would probably start crying once he heard the news.

If she told Shiro and then it turned out to not be true, he would be crushed. He would attempt to hide it, but he loved the idea of being an actual father. Still, if she was going to take anyone down to the infirmary with her, she wanted it to be him. It wouldn't be fair for anyone else to find out before he did. Besides, she could be sneaky when she wanted to be, and she didn't necessarily have to tell him _why_ she wanted to go to the infirmary. At least not at first.

Getting up, Allura changed into leggings and a t-shirt (an outfit she had picked up on Earth during their last visit) and headed out of her and Shiro's quarters. It was midmorning. That was a lot later than when she normally woke up, but late-rising and exhaustion during the first seitara of pregnancy was normal for Alteans.

It certainly explained why she had been falling asleep practically everywhere lately. She hadn't even made it through the first movie of last night's "Horror-Blood-n-Gore-A-thon" as Pidge had called it; she had fallen asleep against Shiro during the first few ticks of "Yelmur Man from Planet Terris." It had worried Shiro and Coran, but she had assured them she was fine.

She didn't have to ask where Shiro was. Every morning, he had the same routine. Drink coffee, run the "Castle Circuit," do a light work-out, shower, and then eat breakfast. She knew that it was currently Shiro's work-out time. Perfect, the training room wasn't far from the infirmary.

As she reached the infirmary, she decided to take some time to lean against the door and appreciate her shirtless husband. Yes, she saw him shirtless all of the time, but there was something about the way his muscles moved when he was doing that wonderful thing the paladins called "Absolute Torture" yet Shiro referred to it simply as a salmon ladder. It looked nothing like a fish to her, but humans did have odd ideas about names.

"Morning," Shiro said as he landed back on the floor, tossing a grin in her direction, "Are you here for a shower?"

Oh, how very tempting. She walked over to him, picked up his towel from the floor, and then looped it around his neck to pull him down for a kiss. "Can I take you up on that later? I actually need your help with something."

"Sure," he said, his hand trailing down her arm, "Is everything okay?"

She subtly curled her fingers into her palms, hiding the glowing fingernails. Shiro knew the signs of an Altean pregnancy almost as well as she did by now, so she didn't want him seeing them just yet and guessing immediately. He was probably already starting to guess…

"Yes, of course," she said, giving him a bright, wide, innocent smile, "I just need to go to the infirmary and run a few tests—"

"What?" Quiet, barely restrained worry bent his eyebrows, and he pulled back to look at her. "Wait, are you running tests on yourself? I knew something was wrong, you've been so tired lately. Is it some kind of Altean sickness?" He reached up and pressed his palms to her cheeks, leaning in. "Allura?"

She pressed one hand to his right one and shook her head. "It's all right, Takashi. Please calm down. I just want to see something for myself. It…I think it's actually a good thing." Pulling his hands down, she smiled reassuringly. "You can take your shower first, if you want."

"Are you kidding? You've got to be kidding." He threaded their fingers together, snatched his shirt off a bench, and pulled her toward the door. Amazingly, they didn't bump into any of the other paladins or Coran as they made their way to the infirmary.

The lights came on as they stepped inside, and Allura headed over to the biobed. Unlike the healing pods, the biobed was used for diagnoses and assessments for a variety of species. It had been created by Hunk, Coran, and Pidge working together since the paladins fussed that they didn't want to go into a healing pod every time they had a little scrape or cut. The paladin version of a scrape was a bleeding gash and a cut would be a stab wound, but they still didn't always want or have the time to get into a healing pod. Coran had become quite the expert at healing human wounds.

"What're we looking for?" Shiro asked as he yanked on his shirt and booted up the biobed's system. His face was stoic, but everything about his body language said he was highly concerned.

Allura touched her finger to the device on the bed that took blood samples, and it pricked her finger. She popped her finger into her mouth for a tick before looking over at Shiro. His eyes landed on her hand, and his dark eyes widened.

"Allura…"

"Yes." Yes to the fact that her fingernails were glowing, yes to the idea that she was probably pregnant, yes she loved him, yes was excited and nervous and, yes, yes, yes. Just…yes.

He was beside her so fast that she could honestly believe he had figured out how to teleport on his own. "Are you sure?"

"I don't know yet," she answered, "That's why I wanted to come down here, and why I wanted you to come too."

His hands hovered around her as if he didn't know where to touch her first or as if touching her might break her or as if he just didn't even know what to do with his hands. "What should I do?"

"I'll run a diagnostic scan if you'll check the blood sample on the console," she said. She smiled nervously and ran her hands through her hair. "Then we'll know."

"All right, yes. That's a good plan." He kissed her forehead then her cheek and then her lips, stepping closer to the biobed. They lingered in the kiss, excitement coursing between them, until Allura laughed and gave him a light push toward the console.

She laid down on the biobed and closed her eyes as it ran its scan, the machine giving off a gentle hum. Her thoughts whipped around her head, tossing up worry and doubt and hope and pure joy. She tried to rein her emotions in, leaning on her own calm, steady inner strength. No matter the result, they would get through this. It was all right. But she couldn't help wondering if maybe she should try that human custom of crossing her fingers…

When it was finished, Allura didn't immediately sit up or open her eyes. She kept them closed and stayed perfectly still, pulling in her racing thoughts. All right, she was fine with either result, it would be perfectly fine, why wasn't Shiro saying anything—

A bright, ecstatic laugh broke the silence, and suddenly she was swept up off the bed and into Shiro's arms. He spun her around and then set her feet on the ground before gathering her to him. He was still laughing as he covered her with kisses, trailing them down her neck before kissing her lips again. "I didn't think—"

"I didn't either!"

"How?"

"I don't know, it's shocking!"

"We're going to be parents."

"We're going to be _amazing_ parents," Allura said confidently. They were smart, loving, kind people, what could go wrong? She felt like her face was going to break, she was grinning so wide, and there were tears in her eyes. Happy tears, but also maybe a little sad, too. Her mother and father weren't here for this moment, and they should have been.

There were tears in Shiro's eyes too, and he knelt down in front of her. Gently, so gently, he pressed his hands to her stomach then pushed up her shirt just a little to press a soft kiss against her belly button.

Allura reached down and ran her fingers through Shiro's hair, confused. "What are you doing, darling?"

"Saying hello."


	2. You Make Me Smile

Disclaimer: I don't own VLD!

A/N: I decided to keep writing Shallura!baby fics about Allura's pregnancy. They might be slightly out of order at times, but yeah, I'll collect them all here! Also, Shiro is an absolute hoop of cheesey goodness when it comes to Allura.

* * *

 **You Make Me Smile**

"Eliana."

"Kano."

"Vail."

"Mirai."

"Wait, what's that one mean?" Allura propped herself up on an elbow and glanced over at where Shiro was getting dressed.

"The future in Japanese," he said, fighting with the fancy Ullini dress shirt he was supposed to be wearing. "It's sort of cheesy, I guess, but I think it's nice."

"I'm writing it down."

Allura and Shiro had been bouncing possible names back and forth since they had accidentally found out that the baby was a girl a couple days ago. They hadn't asked to know the baby's gender, but the midwife didn't delete that line of data on the progress report they had received. So now Allura and Shiro knew the baby was a girl, though they were keeping that tidbit of info from the others, mainly because it was fun to watch them argue about it. Currently Hunk, Lance, and Coran were on Team It's-A-Girl while Keith and Pidge were firmly and fiercely Team It's-A-Boy.

"Help."

Allura looked up to find Shiro with his left arm stuck over his head, which was halfway sticking out of what looked like one of the arm holes. The Ullini had three arms, so the shirt had been modified anyways, but it was still an overly complicated design. The Ullini had given the Voltron crew new clothes to wear to that night's banquet, and it was only proper and polite to wear the outfits that had been offered.

Unfortunately, the Ullini favored neon colors, accessories, and extremely intricate outfits.

Most of Shiro's face was covered by the shirt but his mildly alarmed eyes were still visible. "What is this insanity."

She burst out laughing and fell back on the bed, her arms wrapped around her waist.

"Allura, please, I'm going to rip it," he said, but he made the mistake of waving the hand of his stuck arm, which only made Allura's giggles worse. Takashi Shirogane, the noble and mature black paladin, looked absolutely ridiculous. "Princess…"

"I'm sorry, but you've been defeated by dress wear. Let me fully enjoy this moment," she said, almost crying from laughing so hard. "I need a picture to remember this exactly as it is."

"No, no, you don't," he said. He was struggling to wriggle out of the shirt without tearing it to shreds. When something made a ripping noise, he stopped, his head completely inside the shirt now. "Love…"

"All right, I suppose I'll rescue you." She finally slid out of their bed, glanced over the shirt, and swiftly freed Shiro with a few expert tugs. Carefully, she laid the offending garment on a nearby chair.

He sighed and then caught her by the waist. A mischievous look crossed his face before he put on a stern expression. "You were going to let me suffocate in there for your pleasure." He lifted an eyebrow, and his hands dropped to her hips. "That's so cruel."

She trailed her fingers across the nape of his neck. "I think you should properly thank me instead of making baseless accusations. Don't you?"

"Make me."

Allura took that challenge and kissed him, her hand cupping the back of his neck and pulling him closer. When they broke apart, she pressed a kiss to a scar on his sternum, and then pushed him away. "You still have to wear it."

"That is _not_ a shirt, it's a straightjacket."

"I'll help you, you overgrown child."

Together, they got Shiro into the blindingly purple and green shirt, making sure that it was arranged as well as they could hope. The only good thing about it was that it was tight across the chest, showing off Shiro's physique. Then again, it was also sheer and extremely embarrassing. Allura bit her lip to hide her smile at the miserable, long-suffering look on Shiro's face when he saw his reflection in the mirror.

"Do I have to wear this."

"Yes."

Shiro sighed and then cut his eyes at her. "Where's your outfit?"

"Coran's still fixing it," she said, and she rested a hand on her rounded stomach. She was about four months into her pregnancy, so there was a bump there for all to see. "It was too tight." An unbidden blush colored her cheeks but she didn't look away from her husband. She knew he still thought she was beautiful, even if she was looking a little different these days.

He smiled and reached out to put his hand on the side of her stomach. "You know, if you're not feeling well, we could always skip the banquet and entertain ourselves here."

Allura lifted her chin imperiously. "This is an important diplomatic event, Shiro, and I'm not letting you use me and our unborn child as your excuse to not wear uncomfortable clothes."

His hand slid up her side, and his thumb traced circles against her hip. "That's not the only reason I'd like to stay. We'd have the castle to ourselves. Everyone else would be gone."

Oh. Well. That was enticing. "I don't know…" His lips found hers, pressing the issue until her resolve melted. "I suppose I do feel a little exhausted."

"It's been a long day."

"We were out in the sun a lot."

"You seem faint. I'm very, _very_ worried about your health."

"Is that why you keep kissing me?"

"Yes, as we've already established, on Earth kisses make everything better and think that holds true in space."

Allura grinned and forced herself to move away. "Fine, but I need to tell Coran we won't be going so he can stop working on that dress."

Shiro nodded before extracting himself from the dress shirt by tearing the flimsy material off with zeal. The Ullini only wore each outfit once and the material would degrade overnight anyways, so he didn't feel a bit of guilt over destroying it. He kicked it under the bed, turning it into a memory, and then dropped down on the side of the bed. Reaching over, he picked up the transparasheet that Allura had been writing baby names on. One name stuck out, and he looked over at Allura, waiting to speak until she was finished talking to Coran over the com.

"You have the name 'Emi' on here. What does that mean in Altean?"

"Hmm?" Allura walked over and sat down beside him, leaning against his shoulder to look at the sheet. "I forgot to mention that one. It's one of our words for 'honor' or 'brave'. The meaning changes with how you use it." She rested her chin against his shoulder and gave him a gentle smile. "It seemed fitting. Why?" It was strange that he had fixated on that name out of all the ones she had written down.

Shiro kissed the bridge of her nose. "It's a word in Japanese, too."

"Really?" Allura leaned back, surprised and uncertain. "Does it mean something bad?"

He shook his head. "No, that's just it. It can mean blessing or beauty, or even better, a smile. It depends on how you draw the character."

Allura stared at him. A name that had a meaning in both Japanese and Altean… "Can…can we name her that? Can her name be Emi?"

"I think it's great, but only if you're okay with it."

"Emi," she said as she stroked her stomach, "Our honorable blessing."

Shiro put his hand over hers. "Or brave smile."

Allura grinned. "It's perfect."


	3. My Paladins Made Something Cute

Disclaimer: I don't own VLD!

A/N: The kind and wonderful Reggielove requested this ficlet idea a while ago, and I'm finally free of Hybrid-angst, so here it is! I had a lot of fun with it.

* * *

 **My Paladins Made Something Cute**

It had been three days since she had been born, and Shiro was still in a state of amazement at the tiny perfect being that was his daughter. He doubted the sensation would go away any time soon.

Maybe it never would.

As Emi slowly waved her arms in the air, Shiro reached out and touched her miniature hand. Tiny fingers wrapped around his and held on tight, making him melt even more, if that was possible. Okay, so he was completely undone by this itty bitty person. That made two people who owned his heart.

He was more convinced than ever that Allura was the strongest, most capable person he had ever met. Emi had decided to be born during a space battle, but Allura had kept everything under control and still manned the castle's defense systems even while she was in the first stages of labor. If Allura wasn't the most hardcore being in the universe then no one was.

Said fierce warrior princess was currently sleeping, her face pressed into the pillow as she napped. Emi was laying on her back on the bed while Shiro sat cross-legged between the two, content and proud of his family.

Something tickled the edge of his thoughts, and he felt Black's curiosity yet again. She didn't understand why he hadn't been to her hangar bay in the past three days, though she seemed to get that it had something to do with the small creature that everyone in the castle was gushing over.

Shiro closed his eyes and thought of Emi's face and Allura's, putting them together as a family. Still, the lion sent back curiosity.

"She wants to see her," Allura mumbled. She lifted her head off the pillow, her hair messy and face scrunched with exhaustion. "You should go show her in person." She dropped back onto the pillow.

Allura's brief time as the black paladin had left her with a link to Black. Sometimes she still received images and thoughts and feelings from the lion, especially when she and Shiro were close to each other. She was right. Black wouldn't be content until she actually saw what everyone was so obsessed with.

"Do you want to come, too?" he asked, leaning down over her, one hand resting on the other side of her head. Bending down, he kissed her cheek. "Or do you want to sleep?"

Allura opened one eye and gave a tired smirk. "Sleep. Creating a whole person is exhausting."

Shiro laughed before stealing a quick kiss. Allura kissed him back then grumbled, pushed his face away and rolled over.

Emi was laying on her blanket, so it was easy to wrap her up. It was a super soft and knitted blanket, yellow and blue and red and green, with Emi's name in black in one corner. There were a few mess-ups and one side was a tiny bit lopsided and perhaps the blue part was the biggest, but Lance had worked hard on it.

With his baby burrito tucked against his chest, Shiro slid off the bed and padded out of his and Allura's bedroom. It was midday ship-time, and everyone was relaxing in their own ways around the castle. They all deserved it after the nerve-wracking events three days ago, and having a vacation once and a while helped the whole team stay sane.

Instead of taking the direct route from the bridge, Shiro went the long way to his lion's hangar. Taking Emi on a zipline ride at three-days-old was not exactly a parent-of-the-year kind of idea, so the long way was better.

Emi slept most of the way, but sometimes he would look down to see her bright blue eyes open. When she was awake, he talked. "So, we're going to go meet Black. Black is a lion. Well, she's a robot, but she's a lion robot, and she's also a spaceship. You live on a spaceship, actually. This is a lot to take in, isn't it? But yeah, you live on a spaceship, and your dad, that's me, is a paladin. And your mom is the most amazing person in the universe and puts up with me for unknown reasons. And we love you. And Black is going to love you."

If he was going to do anything for his child, Shiro was going to make sure that she knew exactly how much she was loved. He didn't know a lot about babies or raising them, but he knew that he wanted to tell her every day that he and Allura loved her. He didn't care how old she got, he would tell her it so often that it would sink in until that love was an uncontested part of her existence.

Emi was asleep when he opened the door to Black's hangar. The regal lion was sitting up, tail wrapped around her paws, but when Shiro stepped into the hangar, her eyes lit up. With a rumble, she lowered her head to the floor, and her thoughts pressed against Shiro's. They almost formed words.

 _What. Is. That._

Shiro turned so that he was directly in front of one of Black's eyes and then shifted so that Emi was more visible, her little face peeking out of the blanket.

"Black, meet Emi. She's my and Allura's daughter." It was the first time he had announced it like that to anyone, and he beamed. "Isn't she the best thing in the universe?"

Black laid down, her head resting on the floor between her paws. She scooted her leg out a little, providing a space for Shiro next to her head. He obliged and walked around to sit down next to her, his back leaning against the lion's leg. When he was comfortable, he let the lion see through his eyes, hoping she understood how much he loved this cute little creation.

After a while, the lion rumbled and moved her head closer. A familiar feeling traced the edges of Shiro's thoughts, one of acceptance and protective possessiveness and a small bit of question. Shiro reached out and patted the giant lion's metal head with his free hand.

"You're still the best lion robot in the universe."

That seemed to satisfy her, and if her thoughts had formed words, her feelings toward Emi would've been:

 _Mine, too._


	4. Rules of the Baby Bump

Disclaimer: I don't own VLD!

A/N: This is just a fun ficlet. ^_^

* * *

 **Rules of the Baby Bump**

 _Strangers = No Touching_

The first time a stranger touched her stomach during her pregnancy, it was only Allura's strong sense of diplomacy and respectfulness of cultural differences that kept her from breaking the woman's hand.

She had been minding her own business, waiting with Lance and Hunk in line at a food truck on Earth. Hunk had found 'the provider of epic waffle goodness' during the Castle's last visit to Earth, and when she had complained about craving something sweet, he had suggested they go. They had found Lance coming back into the Castle as they headed out and invited him to come, too.

Standing with her hands buried in the pouch of the hoodie she had permanently stolen from Shiro, Allura had been discussing menu options with Hunk when she felt someone touch her stomach. For a second, she thought it was Lance, but he almost always asked first unless he was joking around.

No, it was some human woman, a glowing smile on her face as she held her palm to Allura's baby bump. "How far along are you, dear? Five months?"

Allura blinked, momentarily shocked into inaction. Why…why did this woman think she could just touch her stomach like that? Anger flashed through her, followed by indignation. She stepped back, out of the woman's reach and wrapped her arms around herself. It was that, or she would've grabbed the woman's wrist a little too hard. "I'm sorry?"

"I'm just wondering when the baby is due," the woman asked, her eyes excited. She proceeded to gush, not giving Allura a chance to say anything. "I just love babies. Is this your first? I've had three. It looks like you're going to have a boy, looking at how you're carrying."

Allura stared, unnerved. But why did any of that give the woman permission to touch her? Was this some kind of strange Earth ritual? Shiro hadn't said anything about it. Judging by the way Hunk was frowning and Lance was glaring at the woman, she doubted it was perfectly acceptable behavior.

"If you don't mind," she started, using a cool, reserved tone she used for negotiation situation, "I'd rather not discuss my pregnancy with a complete stranger. Thank you."

The woman looked taken aback, but she nodded and turned back around. Allura's mood plummeted from waffle-happy to frustrated and upset. She tapped her foot impatiently while they all waited for the line to move and for the woman to just be gone.

Once they had gotten their food and sat down on a bench, Allura tore her waffle apart with a vengeance, soaking it in maple syrup. "Was that normal?"

"Most people don't do that," Hunk said, "She shouldn't have done that."

"People get weird when it comes to babies and pregnant women," Lance said, "They used to touch my mom's stomach all the time when she was pregnant with my little siblings. It's sort of like they think pregnant women are just automatically okay with it."

"I am _not_ ," Allura said. She popped a piece of waffle into her mouth and glared at nothing in particular. While she was completely fine with anyone in her family touching her stomach, she couldn't imagine strangers being that audacious.

Humans were so odd sometimes.

A few days later, she found a new shirt in her closet. It was a blue and yellow maternity shirt, and across the middle it had written in bold white letters, 'PRECIOUS FRAGILE CARGO: Do Not Touch.' Pinned to the shoulder was a little note that read 'For Allura for Earth visits. No touchy!'

Very nice.

* * *

 _Family = Can Touch_

Allura was curled up on one of the couches in the Castle's main rec room, reading on a tablet balanced on her rounded stomach. She was six months along in her pregnancy, and she was wondering how much bigger she was going to get. Right now, she looked as if she had swallowed a small inflated plastic beach ball from Earth.

No one was entirely sure of when the baby would be born due to the differences between Altean and human gestation periods, but she was hoping for sooner rather than later. Being pregnant was somewhat nice but she wasn't going to miss being exhausted or sick or walking around on sore feet, no matter how much Shiro doted on her.

The baby kicked, right where the tablet was touching her belly, and the tablet actually moved.

Allura pulled the tablet away and ran her hand over her taut stomach, tapping against the spot where Emi had kicked. It wasn't like the baby hadn't kicked before. She was always rather active at this time of day.

The baby kicked again, and this time Allura could actually see the foot pressing up against her side, a small moving bump appearing on her skin. Her eyes widened.

Well, this was certainly a new, strange development.

Resituating her pillow and scooching down on the couch, she pulled her shirt up so she could see better. As she watched, she felt Emi move and at the same time, another bump appeared against her skin, rolling to the side. Wow. It was fascinating sensation and so extremely strange at the same time.

"Allura? Everything okay?" Pidge asked. She was standing at one of the entrances to the rec room, an eyebrow raised. "What're you doing?"

"Come here," Allura said, waving her over, "You have to see this."

Pidge walked over, a curious glint in her brown eyes. "What is it…holy quiznak!" She must've seen it when the baby moved again, an elbow or knee running under Allura's skin. She jumped back and then darted forward, sitting on the couch beside Allura. "That looks so freaky."

"It is a little odd."

"It looks like you're possessed and the ghost is trying to get out."

"That's very reassuring," Allura said with a laugh. "Do you want to feel?"

Pidge hesitated and then nodded. "For science."

Allura took her hand and waited until the baby moved again, shifting to the right. She put Pidge's hand against her stomach and grinned at the younger woman. "There! Did you feel it?"

"Yeah, ahh, that is so wild!" Pidge said, "Doesn't it hurt?"

"Does what hurt?" Keith asked. He had a bowl of ice cream in one hand and a transparasheet in the other. He stopped at the landing that led down to the couches, his head slowly tilting to one side.

"Come look at this, it's crazy," Pidge said excitedly, "You can see the baby moving, which is the weirdest thing ever. It's like a parasite."

Allura rolled her eyes, even though it was a somewhat true statement.

Keith's eyebrows shot up his forehead and then knitted together in concern. "Is that normal? Are you okay, Allura?" He hurried over. "Should I get Shiro?"

"No," she said, shaking her head, "I think it's perfectly fine. The baby's just very active right now."

As if agreeing with her mother, the baby kicked out again, her heel visibly pressing against Allura's stomach. Keith paled and backpedaled. "That's _not_ okay! I'm getting Shiro and Coran, we can take you to the infirmary or a space station hospital or somewhere. Pidge, go find a medical book or something and make sure she's comfortable. It's going to be okay, Allura. Get her a blanket, Pidge!"

Before she could stop him, he had handed his ice cream off to Pidge and raced out of the room, yelling for Shiro. Allura glance at the green paladin, who shrugged and started eating Keith's ice cream.

"Seeing how he has zilch experience with pregnant people, I guess that was a pretty chill reaction. Especially considering that it looks like you have a chestburster in your stomach."

Allura's ears twitched. "What's a chestburster?"

"Uh…" Pidge slapped a huge innocent smile onto her face and shook her head. "Nevermind, want to play Super Mega Mario Surprise Party with me?"

Luckily Allura didn't watch the Alien movies until a year after her and Shiro's daughter was born.

* * *

 _Shiro = Obviously_

Allura was half-asleep, resting after a bad morning of vertigo and aching feet (but why did they have to hurt so much), when she felt Shiro slip into their bed. He wrapped himself around her, holding her against his chest, twining his legs around hers.

Gently moving her hair to the side, he blew a cold, refreshing breath across the back of her neck and then pressed a kiss to the tender spot behind her ear.

"Feeling better?"

The moment Shiro spoke, the baby kicked, as if recognizing his voice. Allura smiled. Maybe she did.

"Mostly," she said, pulling his arm tighter around her. She traced a few dark spots along his forearm, connecting them with imaginary lines. "According to Coran's research, the vertigo should go away in another week or so. Possibly."

Everything was always _possibly_ or _maybe_ or _most likely_ when it came to this pregnancy. They could make educated assumptions, but they were going on medical articles from a 10,000-year-old society and advice from a world that had only just been introduced to alien life a few years ago. It was all guess work.

"I wish I could make it go away for you," Shiro said.

"Oh, could you? That would be quite kind of you, love, very appreciated," teased Allura.

He laughed and buried his face in the crook of her neck, hiding from her. "Allura…"

She pulled away and gingerly sat up, trying to banish the lingering traces of vertigo. "What time is it, anyways?" she asked, combing her fingers through her hair. It fluffed out even more, which seemed to be another weird pregnancy thing. It felt like she was walking around in a cloud sometimes, so most of the time she kept it up in a ponytail or a bun.

"Around twelve," Shiro answered. He rolled over onto his stomach and sprawled out, one hand resting on Allura's knee. "You know, we can always cancel that thing this evening."

"If I didn't know you better, I would think you were trying to get out of an important diplomatic meeting, Takashi," Allura said.

"And what if I was?"

"I would be _very_ disappointed in you."

Shiro smirked and pushed up on his elbows. "Oh, not that. Anything but that."

"Yes, that," she replied, giving a regal nod, chin slightly lifted in the air as she tried not to smile.

Suddenly he was behind her, squishing her against him. "I hope she gets that from you," he said, his hands resting on her stomach.

"What are you talking about?" Allura asked. She leaned against him, relaxing.

For a moment, he was quiet, then his forehead bumped gently against the back of her head. "Everything. I hope she gets everything from you."

Allura reached up, pressing her palm to Shiro's cheek. He leaned into her touch, and she turned slightly to look at him. " _Everything_?"

"Hmm, okay, maybe not your self-sacrificial trait."

"She's getting a double-dose of that, love."

"Ah. That could be a problem." Shiro ran his hand over her stomach. "We'll just wrap her in bubble wrap or something, keep her nice and safe."

Allura started giggling, imagining their baby all bundled up in bubble wrap clothes for her whole life, just because her parents were protective. At least she would never doubt that they loved her, right?


End file.
